


Skating Lessons

by questionmark007



Series: Meals & Feels [2]
Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: EJ is a good big brother, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Skateboarding, The OC is EJ's little sister Ella
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:07:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24407023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/questionmark007/pseuds/questionmark007
Summary: EJ asks Ricky to help teach his little sister how to skateboard.--A prequel to my other fic in this series.Originally based on a tumblr prompt/drabble I wrote and expanded.
Relationships: EJ Caswell/Ricky Bowen (if you squint), Ricky Bowen & E.J. Caswell
Series: Meals & Feels [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1762534
Comments: 8
Kudos: 95





	Skating Lessons

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prequel to Home's a Lie (But We Don't Have to Be). It's not necessary to read that before this.

“Hey, Ricky! Got a second?” EJ called out to him as soon as Ms. Jenn dismissed them for the day. Big Red stopped and stared at Ricky, giving him a questioning look. Ricky just shrugged.

“Uhh…yeah, sure?” He didn’t even bother to hide his confusion. While he and EJ weren’t exactly enemies they once were, they also avoided speaking to each other whenever possible. Actively seeking each other out was uncharted territory. Turning to Big Red, he added: “you go on. I’ll catch up.”

Big Red looked like he might argue, but thought better of it, swinging his backpack over his shoulder and heading for the door. Ricky turned back to EJ, noting they were now the only two people in the drama room. Idly, he hoped EJ hadn’t picked now for payback for busting his lip since there were no witnesses and there was no doubt in Ricky’s mind that EJ would win that fight (he was co-captain of the water polo team. That whole sport was just fighting while trying not to drown, as far as Ricky was concerned).

“What’s up?” Ricky prompted after an uncomfortably long pause.

“Word on the street is you’re the guy to go to for skateboarding lessons.” EJ quirked an eyebrow, clearly waiting for Ricky to confirm this. If Ricky had been given thirty guesses as to what EJ wanted to talk to him about, _skateboarding_ would have never crossed his mind. Ricky would have assumed discussing his parents’ divorce with EJ was more likely than talking skateboarding. But apparently not.

“I don’t know about that,” Ricky shrugged modestly. “But I’ve given the occasional pointer or two. Why? Looking for a new hobby?”

“Oh, God no!” EJ sounded offended, then paused, clearly aware of how that had sounded so he tried again: “It’s not for me. It’s for my sister.”

“Your sister?” That was news to Ricky. Of course, the only member of EJ’s family Ricky had ever even seen (let alone met) was Ashlyn, so it was plausible that he had a sister. But also, the thought that there might be _another_ EJ Caswell wandering around in the world was unsettling to Ricky to say the least.

“Yeah, she’s turning seven this weekend and all she wants is a skateboard and a ride to the skatepark so she can learn.” EJ explained, “But I was hoping you might be willing to give her a lesson or two and help her get the basics, so she doesn’t break anything.”

“You want me…to teach her how to skateboard?” There was a lot of information that Ricky was trying to process, starting with changing his view of EJ Caswell to include “caring older brother”.

EJ just rolled his eyes, clearly unhappy with the number of questions he was getting from Ricky. “Look, just spend an hour or two teaching her to not fall on her face, and getting her balance and I’ll give you fifty bucks, okay?”

“Done.” Ricky stuck out his hand for EJ to shake, which he did. “It’ll be best if we start like in your driveway. Let her get the hang of things before introducing her to the madness of the skatepark.”

“Yeah, okay. That sounds good. So, could you come over after school on next Wednesday?” EJ looked relieved. “I want to be there, so her nanny doesn’t freak out when a random teenage boy comes to hang out with a seven-year-old.”

“Yeah, I can do that. I’m pretty flexible now that we don’t have rehearsal every day,” Ricky grinned. They still had drama club twice a week to “hone their skills” and work on different things, but it was much more relaxed than rehearsal was. Auditions for the spring musical weren’t for another few weeks.

“Sounds good,” EJ picked his backpack up and headed for the door before stopping and turning back to face Ricky, his face serious. “Thank you, Ricky. This is going to make her year.”

“No problem. And hey, EJ?” Ricky slung his own backpack on as EJ waited for him to continue. “I’d have done it for free.”

“ _Now_ he tells me!” EJ groused, but there was no heat to it.

\--

Ricky had largely forgotten about his promise to help teach EJ’s sister how to skateboard, until suddenly it was Wednesday and EJ found him after school.

“Hey, you ready?” the senior asked as Ricky closed his locker.

“Ready?” Ricky looked at him, then it clicked. “Skateboarding! Yes. Totally ready.” He thanked the powers that be that he had skateboarded to school today, rather than catching a ride from his dad.

“You forgot.” EJ frowned.

“I did,” Ricky figured it was safer to just fess up. “But I remember now and I’m still willing to do it if you want.”

“ _I_ don’t want. My sister wants.” EJ told him. “she almost started crying when I told her this was happening.”

“Well, let’s go then!” Ricky gestured for them to start walking towards the parking lot. “Can’t have you disappointing your little sister.”

EJ rolled his eyes and they made their way to his car.

The drive to the Caswell house was silent, except for the radio, playing softly in the background. While EJ didn’t actually live that far from Ricky, his house was a lot nicer than Ricky’s. It was on the top of a hill with a sweeping, well-manicured lawn and a long driveway that wound up behind the house to an equally well-manicured backyard that included an enormous deck and a swimming pool.

Ricky was suddenly feeling glad that skateboarding was an _outside_ activity because being inside the house seemed more intimidating than he could deal with right now. He’d known the Caswells were well-off (EJ was one of the lucky kids who actually got a car for his sixteenth birthday _and_ it was a new car, nothing like the third-hand bug that Big Red drove), but this was on a level Ricky hadn’t seen coming.

As they climbed out of the car, Ricky fought the urge to try to flatten his hair and straighten his clothes.

He was meeting a seven-year-old. Why was he nervous?

“EEEEEEJAAAAAY” a tiny blonde tornado tore out of the backdoors of the house and came flying towards them.

EJ dropped to one knee and scooped up the tornado when she got close.

“Hey Ella!” EJ beamed at her, looking happier than Ricky had ever seen him.

Now that she had stopped moving, Ricky got a better look at her. She looked almost nothing like EJ. She was small for her age, with blonde braids and a few missing teeth. She grinned and Ricky felt like he was looking at the human version of the Tasmanian Devil from a cartoon he used to watch as a kid. Her eyes locked on him and Ricky realized they were the same as EJ’s. Ricky wasn’t sure what color he’d call them, but there was no mistaking that they were the same as her brother’s.

“Are you my teacher?” Ella demanded excitedly. Ricky nodded, taken aback that he could _feel_ how much energy she had.

“Ells, that’s no way to greet someone.” EJ chastised her gently. He set her down and put a hand on her shoulder. “Why don’t you try again?”

Ella huffed and rolled her eyes but complied: “I’m Ella Marie Caswell. I’m seven and it’s very nice to meet you.” She stuck out her hand for Ricky to shake, which he did.

“Hello, I’m Richard Michael Bowen, but everyone calls me ‘Ricky’. I’m seventeen and it’s nice to meet you too.” He replied with a little smile.

“Okay, now that we’re acquainted, I’m going to run inside for a minute.” EJ announced. “Do you need anything?”

“Snacks!!” Ella squealed, jumping up and down.

“Okay! Snacks it is.” EJ agreed, walking towards the house. “Don’t forget to put your helmet on!”

“I will if Ricky says!” Ella called back. Then she turned to Ricky, “Do I have to wear my helmet?”

“You do,” Ricky nodded. She led him over to where her skate stuff was piled: pads, helmet and board. Ella pulled out a bright pink helmet and shoved it on her head. He started helping her make sure it was fitted properly before moving on to her elbow and knee pads, explaining why she needed to wear them. She listened very intently, her eyes never once leaving him.

Finally, she was ready to go, so Ricky grabbed her board and walked out to the middle of the large paved expanse at the top of the Caswell driveway. It was relatively flat, so it’d be great for her to start out on.

“Ella.” Ricky said slowly as he put the board down. “that’s a nice name, but would you mind if I called you Ellie?”

“Okay. But why?” She tilted her head, looking at him questioningly.

“Well, I don’t really like names that end in A,” Ricky crouched down, so he was on her eye level. “I couldn’t say As very well when I was little.”

“Good thing your name is Ricky, then.” She told him, nodding.

“Yeah! It’s a very good thing.” Ricky grinned. “One of my best friends was Nina till she met me, then she became Nini because I couldn’t say Nina.”

Ella lit up: “You know Nini?”

“I do,” Ricky nodded.

“I know her ‘cause she used to date EJ.” Ella explained. “She was nice. I liked her.”

“She is very nice,” Ricky agreed. “Now, are you ready to get started?”

She squealed again and nodded enthusiastically, and the lesson began.

Ricky had never taught anyone to skate like this before. Usually, he would make suggestion or two before moving on to do his own thing. This was weird, but nice. Ellie listened with rapt attention as he explained how she wanted to stand, and he held her hands as she got a feel for the balancing.

She got more and more comfortable, until EJ rejoined them, loaded down with different snacks.

“Okay, Ellie,” Ricky started, lining her up about ten feet away from EJ. “I’m going to let go of your hands and you’re going to roll to EJ all on your own, without falling, okay?”

Ellie nodded, focused on her brother now, who looked worried. Ricky let go of her hands and she rolled all the way to EJ, who caught her.

EJ grabbed her and swung her around. “Look at you go, Ella!”

She squealed, beaming up at her brother as he set her on the ground.

“Not bad for a first lesson!” Ricky smiled at Ella as he walked up to the pair.

“Ricky says I’m a natural!” Ella boasted, tugging on EJ’s hand.

“I believe it!” EJ led her over to the pile of snacks he had brought out. “You must be hungry, after all that hard work!”

They sat on the steps leading to the back porch of the house as Ella dove into the snacks, eating some of everything. Ricky snagged a bag of popcorn, helping himself.

“Ellie, what do you say we take a snack break then practice for a bit longer?” Ricky offered. Ellie nodded enthusiastically; her mouth full of pretzels.

“Ellie?” EJ questioned, looking between them confused. “Since when are you ‘Ellie’?”

“Since Ricky asked if he could call me Ellie and I said yes!” she explained. “Isn’t it a great name? I like it.”

“You just gave her a nickname?” EJ looked bemused and Ricky was feeling a little self-conscious now.

“He gave Nini her nickname too!” Ellie told her brother. “You remember Nini, right?”

Ricky snorted, accidentally inhaling some popcorn, and started spluttering and coughing.

“I do remember Nini.” EJ nodded patiently, ignoring Ricky’s wheezing.

“I liked her!” Ella declared. “Even if she said she couldn’t come to my tea party.”

“Your tea party?” Ricky questioned, having gotten his coughing under control.

Ellie nodded enthusiastically. “I invited her but she said she had rehearsal so she couldn’t come. I’m having one tomorrow, if you want to come, Ricky.”

“Ella, he doesn’t want to come to your tea party,” EJ sighed tiredly.

“Well now hold on – what kind of tea party? Who’s invited?” Ricky leaned forward, interested, ignoring the sharp look EJ was giving him.

“EJ, you, and all of my favorite stuffed animals” Ellie counted on her fingers. “It’s a princess tea party.”

“I’ll come, but only if I get to wear a tiara.” Ricky bargained. He didn't really have anything going on for the rest of the week. Even drama club was optional now that they were between shows. Plus, he liked Ellie.

She rolled her eyes. “ _Duh_ it’s a princess tea party, tiaras are mandatory.”

Ricky grinned: “Then I’m in!”

Ellie launched herself at him, giving him a hug, which he returned.

They finished their snack and spent another half hour on the skateboard, just letting Ellie work on balancing. She talked the entire time about the tea party, what stuffed animals would be there, what tiara Ricky would wear, other tea parties she’d thrown.

Ricky tried not to notice EJ’s frown get deeper and deeper the more she talked about it.

Finally, Ricky ended the lesson, praising her on how hard she’d worked and assuring her he would come over next week too to teach her more. She gave him another hug, thanking him and telling him she would see him tomorrow for the tea party, before vanishing inside.

Ricky put his helmet on and grabbed his backpack, ready to skate home when EJ stopped him.

“Are you seriously coming over tomorrow for a tea party? EJ asked, an edge in his voice. “Because if you’re not and you just lied to her—”

“EJ,” Ricky cut him off. “I said I was coming over for a tea party, I’m coming over for a tea party.”

“I—really?” EJ frowned at him.

“Yeah. I like tea parties.” Ricky nodded. “Nini and I used to do them all the time growing up. Unless you don’t want me coming over, which I get—” Ricky suddenly realized that it was probably wasn’t a good idea to just make plans with a seven-year-old without checking in with her guardian...or her brother... 

“No, it’s fine.” EJ waved him off. “I just… she gets let down a lot, and I didn’t want this to be another.”

“It won’t be.” Ricky assured him. EJ gave him a nod and Ricky took that as a sign he was free to leave. 

\--

EJ gave Ricky another ride to the Caswell house the next day. Again, it was mostly quiet ride, Ricky wasn’t sure what to say to the other boy and was only now thinking agreeing to go to his former nemesis’s house to go to a tea party with his sister might not be his best idea.

But his alternative was backing out and he was already _in_ EJ’s car, heading to the tea party, _and_ he had already assured EJ that he wasn’t going to disappoint his sister, so this was happening.

It’d be fine.

They climbed out of EJ’s car and were again met with Ellie’s high-pitched squealing.

“RIIIIIICKYYYY!”

Ricky barely had time to register that it was _his_ name she was calling before he was hugged. He wrapped an arm around her, returning the hug, and throwing EJ a slightly panicked look.

“What, no hug for me?” EJ asked, affronted. Ella detached herself from Ricky and gave EJ an equally big hug.

“I didn’t know if Ricky was coming or not!” Ella explained, releasing her brother. She was dressed in a dress, tiara, costume jewelry and clearly ready for a party.

“Hey, I said I was coming!” Ricky said, choosing to not mention that he was regretting his choice not five minutes before.

“And I’m glad you did!” Ellie beamed, grabbing Ricky and EJ by the hand and dragging them forward, towards the back porch. “We’re all set up and ready!”

There was a table on the back deck, with chairs surrounding it. In each chair were two or three stuffed animals and in front of each stuffed animal was a little plate with a cookie and a little plastic teacup. There were three empty chairs at the table, each with a larger plate and larger teacup in front of it.

“Wow! This is quite the set up!" Ricky took the chair next to the stuffed elephant. “Back in my day, we had tea parties on the floor with water and cookies we smuggled out of the kitchen.” He flashed back to being little and playing secret agents with Nini before a tea party solely to raid the kitchen for tea party supplies. In hindsight, he’s sure Nini's moms knew exactly what was happening.

“Oh no!” Ellie looked horrified. “This is a fancy party! Only the best for my guests!”

Ricky made eye-contact with EJ, who was fighting a smile, having seated himself next to the biggest teddy bear Ricky had ever seen.

“Where’s my tiara?” Ricky asked, not sure what else to say.

Ellie scrambled down from her chair and dashed inside, yelling “I’ll be right back!”

There was a moment of silence before EJ spoke:

“Be honest: how much are you regretting this right now?” There was no heat to his words, and he was smiling.

“Regret is a strong word...” Ricky grinned back. “But I definitely didn’t think this through.”

EJ nodded, still smiling and Ellie slid back into view holding no less than three tiaras.

“I grabbed all the ones I had!” She explained, breathlessly, showing them to Ricky. “You can pick which one you want to wear.”

Ricky inspected them carefully before selecting the biggest one, with fake multi-colored jewels, and putting it on his head. His hair was curly and thick enough, so it didn’t need any help staying in place.

Ellie turned to EJ, offering him the remaining two crowns. “Your turn, EJ.”

EJ grabbed one that said PRINCESS on its structure and pink jewels and stuck it on his head too.

“What do you think?” He asked his sister.

“You’ve never looked better.” She told him seriously.

It was one of the better tea parties Ricky had ever attended. They didn’t drink actual tea because Ellie didn’t like it, but they did have hot chocolate with their cookies and Ricky learned the names of all of Ellie’s stuffed animals and learned, perhaps most importantly, that EJ Caswell was a total push-over for his little sister.

It was a little unnerving to see EJ in such a different light, but truth be told, Ricky didn’t hate this side of EJ. He actually... kinda liked it... it was nice to see EJ’s “all I do is win” attitude drop for a while.

All too soon, they were out of cookies and had no more hot chocolate to drink so Ricky decided it was time to leave.

“Noooo!” Ellie whined as he said this. “You can stay for dinner if you want! We’re having lasagna!”

“Thanks, Ellie.” Ricky smiled at her, standing from his chair. “But I have to go make dinner for me and my dad. He’ll be home soon.”

“Well you have to come to dinner some other time!” Ellie got up and gave him a hug. “Thank you for coming today though.”

“Yeah!” Ricky smiled. “I had fun. And I’ll see you next week for your next skateboarding lesson, okay?” 

Ellie nodded enthusiastically as Ricky gathered his stuff and began to make his way down the drive.

\--

Later that night, Ricky was struggling through his reading for a history assignment when his phone buzzed. He opened the message before his brain even registered who it was from.

EJ.

Ricky almost dropped his phone. They were in the theater group chat but had never actually sent each other any messages directly.

_Thanks for coming to the tea party,_ it read. _Ella hasn’t stopped talking about it since you left. I think you have a new biggest fan._

Ricky’s reply was sent before he could think better of it: _I had an old biggest fan?_

Then, quickly, he added: _I had a good time too. She’s a great kid._

The little grey word bubble appeared at the bottom of his screen, then: _I kinda figured Big Red was your first biggest fan but idk._

Ricky smiled, glad EJ had taken the joke in stride.

_I think he’s Ashlyn’s biggest fan now, so I’m glad Ellie’s picking up the slack,_ he replied.

_Ellie,_ came EJ’s response. _She’s been Ella for seven years and rejected every nickname I’ve tried to give her, but you show up and all of a sudden, she’s Ellie._

_Guess I’m special,_ Ricky typed, holding his breath and not knowing why it felt like such a risky thing to text.

There was a pause. Ricky stared at the screen, watching as the little grey bubble appeared, disappeared for a moment, then reappeared.

Then:

_You’re something, that’s for sure._

_Night, Bowen._

Ricky leaned back in his chair, staring at his phone and wondering, not for the first time, what he’d gotten himself into.

**Author's Note:**

> Hoped you liked it!! I've got a sequel to Home's a Lie planned too, but I wanted to get this out there because once I thought of Ellie, she wouldn't leave me alone! 
> 
> Please let me know what you think!


End file.
